The Path of the Doctor
The Path of the Doctor is the second-to-last story of DBE Series 15 and the entirety of Daniel's timeline, following directly from Death Is But A Whisper. Blurb Daniel is dead, killed by a strange apparition. As Hannah prepares to continue as the Doctor, the TARDIS materializes above London in 1996 despite this not being the set destination. But a shattering leads Hannah back to Daniel's glass coffin, where he has regenerated... And this time, the clock will be reset. Synopsis Hannah runs into the Dome of Remembrance (at the Rose Garden), where Daniel sits at a nearby wall with his back to her; glass is everywhere. He shares his confusion, fear, and sadness, all the while telling his daughter to not touch him. He then stands and begins venting his final frustration: "Why am I regenerating?!" he yelled, seemingly addressing an unknown entity. "I never wanted to die like this! '''I didn't want to die!'"'' He began shivering, but again Hannah was motioned to stay away. "If...if I never see you again, Hannah...my child...know that I'll always love you." He then spits a strange, TARDIS-blue toxin out to the floor before turning around. Hannah is shocked, as it is the man from the Brigadier's picture...the Doctor that Daniel and Hannah didn't recognize...the one that Allura McCoy had dreams of. It is number Eleven...the real Eleven. "This, is where it gets complicated." The new Doctor runs out of the dome, explaining that his timestream had been "hacked into" and a new timeline inserted. Hannah tries to argue that he has no reason to butt in and, theoretically, this should be an alternate timeline anyway; the Doctor stops at the border to the console room and states that: "What you fail to understand, Hannah Tippett, is that anything which happened upon and following my ele-uh, tenth regeneration was '''never' supposed to happen, at all, in any sort of timeline where I exist."'' He smiled. "And, for your information, I caused this to happen – the Dreamer dreams of McCoy, the illusions of the man you called "father", and both of their deaths? All. Me." This triggers Hannah's anger, lunging at the Doctor and nearly choking him until he stabs her in the heart with a small black pen, allowing him to run to the console while she pulls the (strangely harmless) pen out. Catching up to him, she asks what Daniel did to deserve such a fate and what gives the Doctor the right to do these things. "Because none of this...none of '''you'...was ever supposed to happen. All the time you and your father spent together will never be forgotten, but it'll all be pushed...back...into that little part of your mind where you'll dream about it day after day. The Doctor and his daughter Hannah."'' I too will never forget all the events of these..."incarnations"," the Doctor continued, although Hannah could have sworn she heard him mumble "although I wish I could". Hannah grimaced a bit. "I hope it haunts you for the rest of your days, bastard." She wiped a tear from her eye. "Lemme guess, too – for all that Daniel Benfield has done for the multiverses, he'll be erased from history, '''won't he?!'"'' The Doctor sighed. "...No, he won't. He'll remember all of this, too, but much like you will. Probably write it all down, call it "fan fiction", and share it with the world. ...Yes, well..." Eleven then prepares for Hannah to be sent home, only for her to lunge at him again, although this only results in the Doctor hitting the button to send her home. "I'm still the Doctor-" "Goodbye." "...You're still a monster." After she vanishes, the Doctor pushes the memories into a corner of his own mind as he changes back into the outfit he wore in The End of Time, resets the Ship's desktop theme to Coral, and takes his mark. The TARDIS is out of control, the console room on fire, on its way to the house of Amelia Pond... Exactly how things should be. Exactly as they always have been. Immediately after his regeneration from the toxins, with nothing in between. Ever. In any universe. Notes * After becoming the Doctor, Hannah figures that the best course of action would be to find the first incarnation, who had elected to stay on Earth with Rachel in 2034. Based on this and Daniel's command for her to "find a companion quickly", she was likely going to invite Rachel to travel with her. * "TARDIS blue" was first used by an alternate Barbara in the Doctor Who Unbound audio "Deadline". * The black pen is the same one the Author stabbed the Doctor in the heart with during The Final End. * Eleven's thought that Daniel will write his travels down as "fan fiction" is continued in Last Peace. Category:Stories Category:Unpublished Stories